Package that cannot be opened.

[TennMike7 8]

My wife recently got approved at the consular interview for her spousal visa. Today she got the package from the embassy and we bought her airline tickets. Is it the entire package that cannot be opened or is their some sort of secondary package inside of that package that cannot be opened?

 

What will she need to present at the airport? They will need to see her passport before she boards the plane? How does this work?

 

We're kinda confused about the part about returning her passport but it cannot be opened. How will she be able to make the flight without her passport being visible?

[Crazy Cat 39,227]

Inside the package from the embassy, she should fine her passport with the visa as well as a separate package marked "To be opened by CBP officer only"..or some wording to that effect.  It is that one which should remain sealed.....

She will need her passport to travel......when she arrives in the US, she will present her passport with visa and the sealed package to the officer......

[JFH 12,189]

Open the courier mailing bag and inside will be her passport, the invoice for the $220 GC fee and another envelope that is sealed and clearly marked that it is not to be opened by anyone except the CBP officer. 

[TennMike7 8]

Thank you both. She will open only the courier mailing envelope.

[TennMike7 8]

She opened it and it only had some loose papers and her passport with visa! No separate package inside!!!!

[TennMike7 8]

What should we do???

 

[Crazy Cat 39,227]

One of the sheets of paper will probably say she needs only her passport......it is becoming very common that the records are being transferred electronically....

Edited September 3, 2018 by missileman

[TennMike7 8]

It has a letter that says the visa is attached to your passport. No visa packet. I'm guessing that that is what the RDJ consulate is now doing? Was the sealed packet supposed to be the visa?

[Crazy Cat 39,227]

1 minute ago, TennMike7 said:

It has a letter that says the visa is attached to your passport. No visa packet. I'm guessing that that is what the RDJ consulate is now doing? Was the sealed packet supposed to be the visa?

The sealed packet would have been totally separate from the visa.  The items which would have been in the package have been electronically transmitted, it seems.

The visa is inside her passport......that is what she will present when arriving.

 

[Tommal 28]

Why don't you call the embassy and get it be cleared by them?

[Mr&Mrs G. 903]

When mine arrived it was in a tamper proof sealed plastic type baggie and inside was my passport and my packet.

 

This is the packet, kinda beat up but this is the way it arrived.

 

Edited September 3, 2018 by Mr&Mrs G.

[Marieke H 2,303]

7 hours ago, TennMike7 said:

She opened it and it only had some loose papers and her passport with visa! No separate package inside!!!!

Did you read the "loose papers"? The file is now often transferred electronically, but in that case there's usually a letter about that. Sit down, read the papers, look at the visa, contact the embassy if you're still confused.

[bakphx1 785]

More and more, they are sending visas with no packet as all of the information is loaded into the system ahead of time.  You can confirm Olof needed, but read the papers.  I would bet it says no packet is needed.

[TennMike7 8]

Thanks everyone for your comments.

 

The embassy is closed today on account of Labor Day. Same with NVC.

 

The English part of the forms was not as clear. It just said that the visa was in the passport. No visa packet. The same letter in Portuguese was much clearer stating that there was no sealed (lacrado) package with this case. After going over the Portuguese documents, we decided that it had to have been digitally uploaded.

 

Even so, we will confirm with the embassy. My wife made friends with others who had their interviews that week. She called them and they all received the same thing. Passport with visa in it and no sealed package to be opened by CBP officers.

[Laststop 5]

Congratulations to You Both!!!